The date and venue for the huge all-British boxing grudge match between Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn has now been officially confirmed. The arch-rivals will finally go head to head in a middleweight clash later in 2025, having seen an original bout at London’s O2 Arena in October 2022 postponed after Benn failed two voluntary pre-fight anti-doping (VADA) tests.
Benn, 28, always denied any wrongdoing and after a two-year fight with UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) and the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) saw his provisional suspension lifted by the National Anti-Doping Panel (NADP) in November, clearing the path for him to fight again in the UK.
A fight was then agreed with Eubank Jr after the duo clashed again both face to face and on social media, expected to take place in London in April. It has now been confirmed that the bout will indeed take place on April 26 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as part of the first Ring Magazine card, with the famous publication now owned by chairman of the General Entertainment Authority in Saudi Arabia Turki Alalshikh, who is a major figure in boxing.
It will be the undefeated 23-0 Benn’s first fight on home soil since April 2022, when he stopped South Africa’s Chris van Heerden in the second round in Manchester to retain the WBA Continental (Europe) welterweight title. He has since beaten both Rodolfo Orozco and Peter Dobson in low-key fights in the USA, the last of which was in February 2024.
The 35-year-old Eubank Jr, meanwhile, ended 13 months out of the ring with a seventh-round knockout of Poland’s Kamil Szeremeta on the Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol undercard in Riyadh in October to win the IBO middleweight title and move to 34-3 as a professional.
